Page 264 of Broken Saint

I walk next to him with my head held high and with more confidence than I think I’ve felt in…well, forever.

Finally, everything is right in my world. After all these years, all my puzzle pieces have fallen into place and I feel like I belong.

I completely forget that the man standing beside me is famous. That a huge percentage of the population knows hisname, his face, part of his story. But it all comes crashing back when someone shouts for him.

The next thing we know, we’re surrounded by people wanting signatures, wanting to give him their best wishes, and to tell him how they were rooting for him since that dreaded game that may or may not have ended his career.

It’s all really sweet and heartwarming. And at another time, or in another place, I’m sure I’d embrace it. He probably would, too. But right now, neither of us has much patience for anyone but each other.

Colt humors a few of the fans who managed to get to the front of the crowd. He signs a handful of things that are thrust in front of him, and he smiles for a couple of photographs. But after five minutes have passed, his grip on my hand tightens and he tries to find a way through the crowd.

“I’m sorry,” he says politely. “I’d love to stay and chat all day, but I haven’t seen my girl in way too long.”

More questions are shouted, many about me.

My stomach knots, knowing that these photographs are going to end up online for the world to see, but I’m not as terrified as I used to be.

Before, I’d have cared about what they said. But right now…fuck ‘em. Fuck ‘em all. Colt is mine. Colt loves me, and nothing they can say can change that.

“Who is she?” Colt repeats before spinning me into him.

Ignoring the crowd, he stares down at me, his eyes capturing mine.

My heart pounds against my ribs, and it only gets worse when he reaches out and cups my jaw.

“This is Ella Myers, and not only is she the love of my life, but she’s going to be my wife.”

My stomach bottoms out.

Oh. My. God.

He just?—

But then his lips descend on mine and every single thought in my head vanishes as he kisses me right here in the middle of the Fort Worth arrivals hall.

When he eventually lets me up for air, the cheers and congratulations are still ringing around us, but thankfully, a couple of security guards have arrived.

With their help, we manage to make our way through the now even bigger crowd.

“You did this,” I tell Colt with a laugh.

I’m delirious. Deliriously happy.

I can’t keep the smile off my face.

“Meh, don’t care,” he says lightly, and when I look up at him, he’s got the same goofy smile on his face that I know is on mine.

Fuck. It feels good.

Only a few minutes later, we find the truck where I abandoned it in the short-stay parking lot. We climb inside, and the second the doors close behind us, we both let out a sigh of relief.

“Well, that was…”

“Unexpected,” I finish for him.

“I wasn’t supposed to do that, was I?” he says a little bashfully, wringing his hands on the steering wheel.

“You’re so cute,” I muse.